


Ink-Black Feathers

by Pyrahus



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gang World, Heist, Latest with Oikawa Crossdressing, M/M, Multi, Who am I, dystopian world au no one asked for?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 09:57:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,027
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4096618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyrahus/pseuds/Pyrahus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>“People are starting to call you guys the Tricksters." </i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Daichi is too young to be breaking the law, let alone be leading an rather sophisticated and well-known thieving and smuggling operation, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Owls or Cats. Still, he wouldn't want to do this with anyone else other than his team, though he needs to sort out his feelings towards one particular member. But things start to change in this city and people are disappearing, leaving Daichi no time to contemplate. Karasuno has to get to the bottom of this even if it meant going up against bigger opponents then they were ever prepared for.</p><p>Because there are crimes and there are <i>crimes</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Corvi volante

**Author's Note:**

> Reupload of my fic "as the crow flies". Having stepped away for a couple months, I decided to rewrite a lot of it! The main plotline is the same but I've really gotten to reflect on how to write it better.

It was dark.

It was always dark when they were on the job, swooping in to take advantage of the low visibility. The night settled like a reassuring blanket on Daichi's leather clad shoulders.

Holding his arm up, he clenched his hand into a fist to signal his companions. _Halt_. Paused, he scanned the area for movement.  

 _You're all clear_ , Sugas voice came in quiet but confident in Daichi’s earpiece. Just the sound of his partners voice loosened the tension between his shoulders.

Waiting for another second, he then looked over his shoulder to his team before indicating directions with his fingers. They all nodded in acknowledgement and quietly ran over to their respective positions. All of them wore half-masks covering the upper half of everyone's faces, -the crow beak distorted their silhouettes and protected their identities- and all wore similar outfits of matte black leathers, the color only broken up by the silver clasps of their grappling gear which would occasionally glint in the incandescent lights. Daichi made a mental note to have everyone paint the clasps black as well, but for today’s job, it wouldn't matter.

Their target was low security. Just a regular shipment of seasonal vegetables arriving from the farmlands of the west, and if Karasuno managed to get their hands on this shipment, they’d be able to sell them in the underground market for a fraction of the price that the products would have sold for at the official government endorsed (and controlled) supermarkets. It was a great way to send his new team on a trial run, while getting some worthwhile product in the mix.

Refocusing on the task at hand, he crouched down on the shipping crate and waited for the signal. The faint sound of a dull thump, definitely from Nishinoya taking down the first of the perimeter night watchmen, was the sign.

Adrenaline pumping, he leaped across to the next shipping crate heading towards the dockside, confident in the knowledge that the rest of the team were all converging on the target, or taking out potential threats with quiet efficiency. As he ran, he could hear Suga giving out information in his earpiece to the group.

_Tsukkishima, 3 more on your left sitting against the shadow of the orange crate. Looks like they’re trying to sneak a nap. And Tanaka, quiet down a little, I may not have audio feed but I’ve seen you stomp enough to know that you’re being noisy._

Reaching the docks, he crouched down again on the top of the crate as he spotted a security guard strolling between the rows to his right. Taking a quiet breath, he looked around to make sure there were no others before he jumped down directly onto the man below. The security guard didn’t get out more than a inhale of surprise before Daichi soundly jabbed him on the temple knocking him out. Through the speed and rote of muscle memory, he quickly ziptied the unconscious man’s limbs, stuffed a rag into his mouth and tucked him off to the side for morning patrol to find. Further down the row, he saw the typical bright green paint that marked certain crates as perishable goods. He jogged closer to double check the side of the 4 stacked crates for their signature brand markings.

“Visual confirmation, I've got eyes on the package.” he murmured into the little wire tucked against his collarbone. “How are we doing on the guards?”

_Looks like Noya is tying up the last couple now and Yamaguchi is cutting all the wires for the closed-circuit surveillance on the outer perimeter. I’ll call the warning if anyone new arrives. I’ve got no visuals on the insides though so you are all on your own. Everyone, remember the map, the plan and good luck._

Daichi took a deep breath, turning when he heard the sound of two people dropping onto the ground behind him.

Hinata’s bright hair stuck out haphazardly between the straps of his mask but his smile was ever visible even in the low light.

“Alright you two, show me what you worked on.” he said, stepping aside to gesture to the formidable code-locked panels of the shipping crate door. After the government had caught onto their activities, they’d begun sending out more of these types of crates instead the usual padlock. The crates were now rigged so that if the wrong code was inputted, or the panel clumsily hacked, the doors would open along with the trigger of an acid bath inside, instantly destroying anything inside, including any unlucky thieves. Luckily, with the advice of Datekou, Karasuno had managed to avoid any injuries and figured out that the best way the disarm the trigger was to blow it up before it could be engaged.

Daichi snorted with disgust at the existence of a government who would waste valuable goods needed by the starving just to keep it out of other's hands.

Hinata and Kageyama swiftly went to work, Hinata easily climbing to the top of the crate where one of the triggers were installed. Daichi stepped back to keep an eye out for Asahi’s getaway vehicle and any unwelcome guests.

All in a night’s work for a Crow.

* * *

 

“People are starting to call you guys the Tricksters." Suga called as a way of greeting when Daichi walked through the door.  

He hummed in response as he stripped off his sweaty gear, dumping it on the bench in their tiny foyer, "Hinata will like that."

Suga popped his head around the corner with a laugh, silver hair mussed from his headset.

“Shoes off, you absolute barbarian.”

“I’m working on it, geez.” Daichi grumbled bending down to wrestle with the laces of his battered leather boots. “Is it too much for a man to ask that he occasionally get greeted with a ‘Welcome home, I’m glad the mission didn’t go horribly and that you weren’t caught by government agents and getting tortured' once in a while?’”

Suga shrugged playfully.

“Those who have to ask don’t deserve it.”

“Ouch.”

Sugawara sighed, letting worry creep into his voice.

"How was it? Everything go smoothly?"

He reached out, pulling Daichi to his feet and leaded him to the kitchen where a mug of warm soup sat on the counter, the steam rising off of it invitingly.

Daichi grinned tiredly.

"Everything went as planned. As you saw on the feeds, Hinata and Kageyama's new decoy routine worked as well as we hoped, though there are some kinks we definitely need to work out. But there is a lot of potential there.”

Sugawara frowned thoughtfully.

“Yeah, I wasn’t sure, but the explosion on the lock looked a little like overkill on my monitor.”

Daichi nodded.

“You aren’t wrong. It wasn’t a big deal this time with such minimal security, so all we needed was Tanaka to run extra cover and Noya to cover our tracks. We got everything in the warehouse. Kiyoko will take it from here and I dropped off the kids off on the way back. But next time we need to train them to wire up something smaller and quieter."

Suga sighed, visibly relieved, leaning against the counter with his hip.

"Your planning and information were flawless as usual, of course." Daichi said, gulping down a mouthful of the broth.

"I'm glad," Suga sighed, tucking hair behind his ear absentmindedly. "I know you guys are careful but I worry anyways, especially with that being their first real run."

Daichi knew that as well. It didn't matter how long they did this, stealing and smuggling supplies, Sugawara would probably always worry, especially now that he didn't always participate in-person. After Kageyama joined on last season, they had agreed that the younger man should take Sugawara's old role. Kageyama was incredible at distracting and taking down security and in combination with his dynamic with Hinata, he was a unmatchable asset. This addition freed Sugawara up during missions and the silver-haired boy had decided it was time he took on the role of communications and ground control they sorely needed. Daichi privately felt better with Suga's voice in his ear, giving directions and knowing the other was miles away watching them through hacked feeds, than at his side, in danger’s way. Regardless, the new system had only been used in small low-stakes test runs until today and the results were very promising.

It wasn’t easy on anyone, but for the first time in a while, Daichi could taste the faint tinge of optimism in the air.

* * *

 

While Daichi understood the appeal and addictive feeling of pulling off a successful job that many of his cohorts discussed, he preferred being here most, sitting with Suga on their ratty couch, mugs of tea sitting the end-table and Suga humming as he flipped through his book.

In moments like this, with the yellow light of their old lamp illuminating Suga's skin, gliding over his delicate shoulder and ink feathers peeking over the fabric of the worn sweatshirt, Daichi felt the pang of longing the hardest. He had long accepted, years ago, that he was irrevocably attached to his partner-in-crime but it was hardest to hold his tongue during domestic moments like this. Daichi could almost forget that the two of them were wanted leaders of a smuggling ring, in charge of the operations of a 10-some man team. Here, he could momentarily shed the weight of responsibility and imagine what it would be like to be able to walk home every day from an honest job to Sugawara, without his worried wrinkles and dark circles from the nights where the boy would have nightmares.

Pulling himself back with now practiced ease, he looked down at his own notebook and reflected, unwilling to let himself daydream any longer.

They did what they did out of necessity.

In a city where law enforcement was rotting to the core and the class gap ever-widening, most slum children had to find alternatives to survive, looting, stealing, joining up with gangs. Daichi liked to think they were maybe even thriving now, finding their nourishment in the trash-heaps like the crows they took inspiration from.

It had started with just him, Sugawara and Asahi, and truthfully, they had never intended on striking out on their own. Daichi had been an angry fourteen year old, getting into fights with the junior detectives of the police squads who flaunted their badges with arrogance and pushed around the locals. Sugawara would help the bullied individual aside or sometimes get into the fights himself. Asahi had learned to bandage up their bruises and scraps expertly with the supplies they could find. They had continued on in this manner and probably would have gotten in serious trouble this way until the turning point where they had gotten into a particularly nasty scrape with 4 police-in-training. As muscular as Daichi was from all the manual labor he did, or as quick as Suga was, it was hard for them to fight 2-to-1, especially since the opposition had combat training under their belts. Sugawara had his shoulder dislocated and Daichi, a rib cracked for their troubles. Asahi had panicked at the extent of their injuries and ran off for help, bringing Ukai and Takeda into their lives.

They were the couple who owned the local local store (who definitely was involved in some shady side-business that Daichi had not wanted to pry about) and the two kind men had took the three in, patched them up and after a long conversation, had given them a start-out sum.

Daichi was forever grateful for Ukai-san and Takeda-san's help. The two helped beyond just financial backing, even introducing them to a network of important connections to well-established gangs, putting Karasuno in touch with Nekoma and Daichi made sure to always show his appreciation, by way of best produce from each job going to the store.

Over the subsequent months and following a few small but successful heists later, kids from nearby neighborhoods asked to join up. There wasn't really much of a choice for people their age in a place like this, other than joining up with a gang. The alternative, often, was starving. Over the last few years they had grown in size, power and even made connections with some of the other groups.

It was an unspoken understanding that no team would poach on another's industry.

Now that they were pulling off bigger and bigger jobs with the help of their 4 newest members, they'd been able to sell supplies to the poor for cheaper and cheaper, while still having enough to sustain their own operation. Even better, they now had resources to occasionally intercept and destroy other shipments filled with dangerous narcotics, that they suspected the police were forcing onto the population on the sly, which was Suga's own personal pet project.

He reached out and ran his fingers through Suga's hair. He and Asahi had really grown in the past years, thanks to improved nutrition once they started their operation, but Suga never really put on weight or grew. He was still thin and waifish, but his appetite had been improving as of late so Daichi wouldn’t complain.

Suga leaned back into Daichi's touch for a few idle moments before he turned around to face him.

“Tomorrow is a rest day, right?” he asked quietly. Daichi nodded. “We should have the team over for dinner and maybe take them over to Saeko after.”

Daichi agreed. It would be a good time to let the young ones celebrate their first big job and give them their official “wings” in a manner of speaking.

“We can look over everything that went wrong in the morning.” He stood up, stretched and reached down to Suga.

“Let’s get some rest.”

Suga took his hand and smiled beatifically.

“Let’s.”

* * *

 

The next evening involved too many bodies being crammed into the limited space of their kitchen. Daichi didn’t think that the addition of four new members would make such a stark difference but it certainly did with people even spilling out into the foyer.

Nishinoya was perched on the little counter by the sink, chatting animatedly with Asahi who had been tasked with the duty of stirring the stew on the stove. Hinata had somehow clambered onto the top of their fridge and made himself comfortable there, leaning down to yell enthusiastically at Kageyama. Tanaka and some of the others stood around in the living room, careful not to disturb the files Suga had left on their little coffee table while Tsukkishima and Yamaguchi stood in the foyer, talking quietly with Ennoshita. Kageyama awkwardly hovered around in the kitchen until Suga gently but firmly steered him towards the others in the living room. Daichi helped Suga pass out spoons and bowls to their dinner guests and smacked his wooden spoon on the side of the pot.

“Time to eat guys, line up by the counter, Asahi will serve.”

Hinata leapt down from the fridge with a excited yelp, ignoring Asahi’s noise of concern.

“Uwoooh!! It smells so good, what is it?”

“Dumbass Hinata, you’re being rude.”

“No worries,” Suga smiled. “It’s a special treat, so I’m not surprised you don’t recognize the smell. Beef stew with potatoes and carrots over rice.”

Hinata’s eyes widened to saucers. Meat was an expensive item where they lived and even with the financial supplement from their activities, it was still hard to get hands on the stuff. Daichi and Sugawara had agreed to splurge for this meal.

Quickly everyone got in line, Asahi doling out generous portions and once every bowl had been filled to the brim, the group settled around the living room, sitting on the floor or on the ragged sofa to eat and chat excitedly.

Suga, on his way to the kitchen to get a glass of water, noticed that Hinata was very carefully eating around the chunks of beef and pushing them all to the side. After a moment of observing, he tapped Hinata gently on the shoulder.

“Hinata,” he said in a low voice, not wanting to draw attention.

“Suga-san!” the orange-haired boy squeaked. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you about the meat I just-”

Sugawara raised a finger to his lips, smiling. Hinata stopped blabbering.

“I already prepared a portion for you to take home.” Suga replied. “That’s why you aren’t eating the meat right? To save for your sister Natsu?”

Hinata’s jaw dropped.

“I- yes, I mean, thank you Sugawara-san.”

Suga reached out and ruffled his hair.

“You are a good kid Shouyou.”

When Daichi raised an eyebrow questioningly at Suga upon his return, he shrugged it off.

When everyone had eaten their fill, Daichi stood and cleared his throat. The room fell silent.

“I just wanted to say, a job well done yesterday.” he began. “Our connections and patterns are still new but I see a lot of potential for us and we are glad to have you join the team.”

A small cheer went around the room. Daichi waited for the congratulations to die down before he continued.

“Now, there is no pressure, but Suga and I discussed it and we thought tonight might be a good time for the new ones to get Marked, if you are interested. If you choose not to wear a mark, we can respect that as well. The risk of getting caught by the police with a Mark is a serious and dangerous one.”  

Their four new recruits all looked varying degrees of shocked. Even Tsukiyama raised his eyebrow surprise. Being offered a Mark meant being officially accepted as a member to the gang, which was considered a privilege and honor. Every gang had their own symbol and name and the Mark made them family, in a manner of speaking. If you ran in trouble with other gangs, your Mark could often save you. Conversely, being caught by law enforcement with a Mark meant being held in prison, and according to the stories, tortured for information.

Hinata couldn’t suppress his excited squeak. He had been coveting a Mark for years and he particularly liked Karasuno’s; a silhouette of a crow with it’s wings spread out, claws outstretched to attack and the word Corvus over it’s head like a halo.

“Is that a yes?” Daichi smiled crookedly at the hush.

“Of cou-naturally, I’d be honored!” Kageyama barked blushing furiously as he tripped over his words.

“That’s not fair!” Hinata retorted. “I wanted to say yes first!”

“It hardly matters,” Tsukkishima drawled behind them. Looking towards Yamaguchi, he inclined his head. “Tadashi and I will go through with this as well.”

Tanaka laughed boisterously, slapping Tsukkishima on the back.

“I knew you had it in you, boy!”

Nishinoya sat on the other side of the two and clapped Yamaguchi heartily on the back. “We’re glad, you two! Just don’t mess up, eh?”

Yamaguchi stuttered. “We will try our best.”

“Oi!” Daichi raised his voice. “Stop bullying them. If everyone is ready, we can put the dishes in the sink and make our way over to see her.”

Hinata bounced excitedly throughout, almost smashing his bowl against the counter for a moment before Daichi caught him by the back of the collar and told him to cool off for a moment outside.

They all trickled out onto the street where they got on their various vehicles. Most of them owned bikes or motorcycles of some sort, whether they were simply bikes that were adjusted to have an engine or otherwise. Nishinoya had happily outfitted his bicycle with an old go-cart engine he’d traded some supplies with the Owls for and it always coughed out a puff of black smoke when he fired it up. There were a few big trucks that also belonged to the team, but they left them in their hidden warehouses, using the vehicles only for jobs. Suga grinned as he saw Tsukki and Yamaguchi clamber onto one motorcycle, before slinging his own leg over the seat of his motorbike. Hinata had a well-worn bicycle and the others all had their own means of transportation (that usually doubled as their get-aways). Double checking to see they had everyone, Daichi lead the way. Suga had to hide his grin into Daichi’s back when he saw Hinata excitedly talking a mile a minute to Kageyama, keeping pace with Kageyama on the raven-haired boy’s far-nicer motorbike, legs pedaling as furiously as he spoke.

When they pulled up in front of what looked to be a hair salon, it’s red neon closed sign shining, no one was surprised. This particular hair salon was just a front for the tattoo shop in the back and despite several police busts on the premise, they were never able to find proof. The owners were extremely good at stashing away the tattoo supplies at the drop of the hat. Dismounting first and toeing the kickstand into place, Daichi walked up to the door and knocked on the glass in a particular rhythmic pattern until a face popped up behind the reinforced bars just behind it. The face light up with a grin in recognition and quickly the door was thrown open to invite the group in.

“Welcome, welcome! Good to see you two are doing so well!” Michimya chattered as she pulled Sugawara and Daichi into a hug. As she waved everyone else in, she continued to talk.

“Saeko-chan is in the back, just prepping up. How many this time? Four? Oh, how wonderful for you!”

The aforementioned tattoo artist popped her head out of the back room.

“Ahh, Sawamura, you are doing well for yourself I see!” she belted out cheerily. “How many have you brought me? My hands are pretty sore today and I feel like I’m going cross-eyed. The Queens just passed through this morning with a few of their own and you know how their stuff is.”

Daichi stepped forward to talk to her.

“Four,” he replied. “And some things you might like.” He passed over a canvas bag that Saeko quickly opened, her and Michimiya looking at the contents curiously. Inside were a few packs of tattoo needles and ink and a whole new tattoo gun. It was technically illegal to get or give tattoos since it “encouraged organized criminal activity” (Daichi couldn’t really argue against that one) the Crows tried to keep an eye out for these supplies when they could due to the central role of tattoos in their communities. The difficult nature of finding these items, especially new and sterile meant they made great payments as well.

Saeko’s eyes lit up.

“I knew you were a good one!” she pronounced, flouncing off into the back of the building, bag in hand.

“Who are the Queens?” Hinata whispered to Sugawara in the back. The silver-haired boy blinked before smiling.

“I forget you aren’t as familiar with all the nicknames.” He remarked thoughtfully. “That refers to the Niiyama girls gang. They do some more specialty work, running heists dealing in precious metals and gems so their Mark is a really intricate crown. Extremely delicate work, too high security for us, but they’ve got an amazing touch. We generally never cross paths with them. Saeko must have had a busy day if they dropped by.”

Kageyama who had been eavesdropping, leaned over.

“Is that the team who always leaves behind a card from all their hits that says 'Watch the Queens Conquer'?”

Hinata pouted.

“How do you know this stuff?”

“Dumbass Hinata. How do you not?”

“Oyy!” Saeko’s voice cut through the beginnings of another argument. “If you want a Mark, you better get your asses back here this instant.”

Hinata and Kageyama rushed forward, squabbling over who would get through the door first before Tsukkishima just shoved through the two, Yamaguchi following on his heels.

In the brightly-lit back room, Hinata blinked, finally getting a good look at the woman, Saeko was a fairly tall girl with stunning bleach blonde hair, cut into a fashionable bob and wearing a tanktop. He squinted at her. Somehow she looked familiar.

She grinned.

“What’s up Shorty? How is it working with my brother?”

Hinata gaped.

“Brother?”

“Ryuu, of course! Can’t you see the resemblance?”

“Ohhhh, Tanaka-senpai, you never told us you had a cool sister!”

This enthusiastic and utterly guileless answer from Hinata caused Saeko to throw back her head and laugh.

“I like you, kid. But I need you to settle down, we don’t have all night, so decide where you want your Mark and sit down.”

Hinata replied without hesitation.

“Side of my calf.” he chirped. Saeko had him tug up his pant leg and started to wipe it down with disinfectant.

“Any reason?”

Hinata beamed. “All my ability rests in my running and jumping power. I’m going to be the best smuggler ever and outrun any stupid cops!”

“What’s the point of that if you don’t get the goods, dumbass?” Kageyama grumbled next to him.

“Don’t fight while you’re getting Marked!” Daichi boomed outside.

The rest of the tattoos went smoothly. Kageyama chose to have his on the inside of his wrist, Tsukki pointed to the patch of skin right behind his ear on his neck and Yamaguchi went with the his bicep where Marks were traditionally placed. Saeko and Michimiya handed the four boys creams for the tattoos along with instructions on keeping the fresh tattoos infection-free before ushering them out into the main salon area where the rest of the team was chatting quietly.

“Here they are!” Michimiya trilled. “All Marked and ready!”

Everyone stood up in one movement.

“Well then,” Daichi grinned, turning and tugging down his shirt to show his own Mark, stamped clearly on the skin beneath his neck, centered on his broad back. “You are now full-fledged crows. Congratulations.”

The rest of the team all shifted to show off their Marks as well, for a moment of unity and Hinata couldn’t help the shiver of excitement that ran up his spine, ignoring the sting of his fresh tattoo.

_Corvi volante._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The other teams and their “work” will be introduced slowly over the next few chapters so don’t fret! Though don’t worry, you can probably already guess some of them, honestly.
> 
> Anyways, I can’t really tell you where this idea came from and this is in no way me condoning illegal gang activities. This is set in an alternate and rather dystopic universe where the very wealthy sustains themselves off the misfortune of the poor.
> 
> So. Don’t break the law kids.  
> Everything here is very morally grey.
> 
> Also I had to write about the Niiyama girls team because WE ONLY SEE THEM ONCE AND I AM ALREADY IN LOVE I WANT THEM BACK.


	2. Chapter 2

Daichi sighed from his spot, perched in top of a shipping crate, surveying the activity around them. Asahi and most of the others were occupied with rigging and cleaning their tools for the jobs, working on anything from grappling hooks to switching out the batteries of their flashlights while Hinata and Kageyama argued about something or another.

Despite the initial success of Hinata and Kageyama’s decoy moves, they were hitting a rut. Often, they’d get caught up and bicker even during the job and that any distraction to the team or movement that attracted attention would be dangerous.

Koushi had drawn up a chart of their formations, which looked amazing on paper but depended on consistent performances from the two. They still needed tons of practice and in situations like this, where failure could mean death, imprisonment or at least injury, he needed to be sure that everyone was in full sync. He stifled another sigh. It was a difficult process but if they could get their four new members to _click,_ he sensed a lot of potential.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Kiyoko gesture to him from her spot at the back of the warehouse, so he raised a hand and caught the four newly Marked’ member’s attentions.

“Let’s go over the steps again,” he waved them in. “From the top, guys, verbally walk us through this. Suga, if you could give them a start?”

Suga looked up from the laptop he was tapping away on and nodded at Daichi before turning to address the group below.

“Try a Delta Tango scenario,” he replied, putting aside his computer and doing a series of hand signals to the group. “Now, verbally talk through it with me. Remember, preparation is 90% mental.”

He left Suga to coax everyone through the appropriate steps (“Check for Nishinoya’s signal and identify the crate?” “You got it, now what comes next?”) and made his way over to Kiyoko.

“Kiyoko-san, thank you for your hard work, as usual.” he greeted as he got within earshot. She tucked her hair behind her ear and peered down at her clipboard.

“Here’s the update. Your shipment was good, though the blast set on the crate damaged some of the produce near the doors. If we pack tonight and tomorrow, they should be good to go by the end of this week.”

Daichi sighed. Kageyama was pretty adept at wiring up small lock-breaking explosives on the spot, essential for breaking into sealed shipments of goods without setting off the traps but he tended to set the charge a little too strong and Hinata was still clumsy with his placement and detonation. Still, if they could perfect their roles, it would make a huge difference to the team’s overall operation. Hinata’s incredible gift for free-hand grappling (Daichi wasn’t entirely sure he wasn’t raised by monkeys honestly) and Kageyama’s lightning-speed ability to assess and rig appropriate explosives were beyond compare to anything they’d achieve before. Despite the damage that some of their work had caused to the goods, they were already making a difference on the jobs. Karasuno had never gotten above a 30% success rate of getting the goods out without triggering the acid traps but in all their simulations and yesterday’s job, Hinata and Kageyama had neatly brought their stats up to 85%. Even if they did fumble actual jobs, it was still an improvement that Daichi and Suga had prayed for.

Turning his attention back to the conversation at hand, Daichi nodded.

“Sounds good, it sounds like you have everything under control. Need any help with the transports?” he asked.

“Just two drivers. Nishinoya-san and Tanaka-san already volunteered. It’ll have to wait till Friday when Yachi finishes repainting the trucks.”

At this Daichi had to chuckle.

“Of course they did."

Kiyoko had joined up earlier than most of their current team and on top her efficiency and adept organizational ability, her presence had also unwittingly brought in two of their best. Tanaka and Nishinoya had spotted her at a distribution drop points two years ago and the two had instantly marched up, declared their love and admiration and proceeded to moon after her all afternoon. Asahi had been so terrified that the ruckus they kicked up would draw unwanted attention that he had called Sugawara in and next thing Daichi knew, they were both recruited and getting Marked. Daichi had been on the fence about those two but Koushi vouched for them and Daichi trusted Suga’s instinct. He, of course, hadn’t regretted the decision. They had been lucky to have these two on the team, and they were excellent at what they did.

Tanaka, serving as their main offensive power, had an eerie sense of how to maximize results from their limited stores of weapons, ranging from tear-gas to small-scale explosives and quickly made found his niche in taking down security and drivers during initial ambushes as well as creating diversion points during the actual thefts. Nishinoya, perhaps thanks to his smaller stature, was excellent at staying undetected even as he took down perimeter patrols and Daichi could say that his watchful eyes and quick reflexes had saved their team from several near-disasters when reinforcements showed up unexpectedly at the docks or the guarded storage sites marked specifically for supplies meant to go to the North. It was good to have such a good shadow watching their backs.

Daichi and Kiyoko went over a few more numbers on her clipboard, discussing locations for the drop points. Karasuno had been operating for three years now and while their multiple successes and growing fame gave them the chance to connect to other well-established groups for supplies and trades, it also meant they were rising on wanted lists. On top of constantly changing the appearance of their transport vehicles, one of their best bets of avoiding capture was by making sure they never fell into predictable patterns of appearance. Yachi was a newer recruit that Kiyoko had taken under her wing and though still highly nervous, she had proven to be very good at getting out covert messages to the locals on where to expect the next drop-in “supply shop”. Their efforts covering their tracks at the scenes of the robberies would be useless if the police could just expect them to show up at certain locations like clockwork and Yachi was always coming up with more ingenious ways of hiding code into her bright innocuous posters she’d distribute through the grapevines.

“I’ll get Koushi to call you for the finalizations,” he said when they finished going through a list of locations and times, “He has a much better sense for these things than I do and he might have some extra ideas seeing as he’s been monitoring the feeds lately.”

Kiyoko nodded approvingly. Everyone in this district hated the surveillance cameras installed on every street corner by the authorities “for their protection” but ever since it was discovered that these cameras were actually quite easy to hack and manipulate (courtesy of one Kozume Kenma from Nekoma), gangs all over the area started to harness them for their own uses. It was probably poetic justice in some way, that the very people that installed these were now being watched through them.

“Great job today!” he called to Yachi when she appeared at the back entrance, her spray-paint gear making her a bright yellow figure. She waved excitedly back and called Kiyoko over to her.

“Before you go,” Daichi halted her, “I know I neglected to give warning, but is there any chance that the trade van is stocked and ready?”

“We already got it done this morning.”

“I don’t know what we’d do without you,” Daichi smiled ruefully. Kiyoko patted him on the arm and turned to attend to whatever Yachi had to say. Daichi walked back to the boys who were now listening attentively as Suga showed them more options for getaway maneuvers.

He looked down at his phone. It would be sunset soon. On the last job, they had used up most of their smoke flares and a few of their small explosive charges so it was definitely a smart time to go restock.

He called out to the group who was now sitting in twos and trios chatting, while their hands remained busy with the cleaning and mending of their harnesses.

“Does anyone want to go visit the Iron Wall with me?”

As Daichi predicted, Hinata was on his feet in an instant, clamoring while Kageyama scowled at Hinata’s reaction. Hinata and one of the Datekou boys had struck up an unusual friendship, which to Daichi, really looked like Hinata chattering that man’s ear off at, but Moniwa had assured him that Aone was having the time of his life, despite his stoic expression. Making alliances with other groups in similar industries could only be beneficial and Hinata really was not the type that made enemies. Kageyama clambered up quickly right after Hinata.

“I want to come too! S-sir.” he muttered stiffly.

Tanaka stood up lazily.

“I’d like to see if they’ve come up with any new designs lately,” he shrugged, hands in his pockets. “They were testing something with explosive dry ice last I heard and I have a couple ideas for that toy, if they’ve come up with stable prototypes.”

“Anyone else?” Daichi looked around the room. When he got no more responses, he put his hands together. “Alright, just pack up before it get’s too dark, we’ll see each other tomorrow to start planning our next job.”

Suga grinned.

“Sounds good Captain. I hope you don’t mind walking home though, I’m taking the bike.”

Daichi sighed in mock-suffering and waved him off, leading his group to one of the side garages that revealed a small ambiguous van. A quick glance in the back confirmed what Kiyoko had already said. It was packed full of produce, which were Karasuno’s main trade goods with other gangs. After a moment of contemplation, Daichi strolled to a locked freezer at the side of the garage and opened it up, fishing out a few parcels of frozen beef wrapped in brown butcher’s paper before putting it in a bag and placing it in the back with the rest of the food.

Climbing into the passenger, he waited for Tanaka, Kageyama and Hinata to buckle themselves in and drove out into the dark streets of Miyagi district. Datekougyou’s front was one of the closest to Karasuno’s base out of all the gangs and the two groups saw each other often. The Iron Wall ran a farm and hunting supplies shop as their cover, as a way to explain the amounts of saltpeter and firearms they carried, in case of an unexpected police raid. No one locally purchased any of their goods but Daichi had heard that they actually had some regular customers, mostly wealthier farmers from the Southern Plains, which ordered from them, due to their cheap prices. When the store came into view, Daichi could already feel Hinata’s excited bouncing. They drove past of the store, pulling into a small alcove a block away and parking there, before walking back to the store.

Strolling in, they casually browsed the aisles for a moment, making sure no one suspicious was lurking around before Daichi walked up to the cash register. The person manning the counter looked unfamiliar to Daichi, a tuft of dark hair sticking out right at the middle of his forehead in stark contrast to the rest of his lighter hair. He was quite tall as well.

Daichi leaned his elbows on the counter.

“Is your manager in?” he asked. The cashier jumped and crossed his arms.

“What’s it to you?” he replied. Daichi frowned. That was not the answer to their passcode. What was going on?

“I have some complaints about your fertilizer,” he tried again. The cashier huffed, crossing his arms in a way that was probably meant to be menacing.

“There is definitely nothing wrong with our products,” the man replied, voice getting louder. “Stop making up lies!”

Tanaka, who had been staring at some shovels at the side of the store was starting to get antsy. Before Daichi could tell him to stand down, the door to the back opened and a head poked through.

“Koganegawa, for the millionth time, could you keep it down- oh! Sawamura!” Futakuchi jumped when he saw Daichi. “What’s going on here?”

The tall man whined in response.

“Senpai, this guy here is asking to see the manager about our fertilizer and I know there is nothing wrong with it!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake Kogane, that’s the passcode we set up with Karasuno! Next time, just come get one of us. Let them past the counter and I’ll handle this.”

Koganegawa looked sheepish as he lifted the counter so Daichi, Tanaka and Hinata could pass.

“Sorry, thought you were just giving me a hard time.” He blushed.

Daichi smiled.

“No hard feelings.”

Stepping into the back of the store, Futakuchi greeted them and lead them through a series of convoluted hallways into a big open room.

“Wait here, Moniwa will be right by. He’s just doing some quality check.” His eyes stopped on Hinata. “I’ll bet you’re here to see Aone? He’s over there with some metal work. You can go say hi but don’t step too close to the forge. We wouldn’t want you to singe any of your bright little feathers.”

Kageyama glared at the subtle dig before following Hinata to the side where Daichi could see Aone standing by one of the furnaces, soot-streaked as usual and his mask pushed to the side rumpling his short hair.

Moniwa rushed in.

“Hey Sawamura, sorry, Futakuchi just told me what happened. Our regular guy never showed up so we had come up with a replacement this morning. Kogane is one of our new ones. He’s a bit hotheaded but he’s a good kid and this situation isn’t entirely his fault. I wasn’t expecting you today so I totally forgot to tell him that other teams might be dropping by.”

Daichi nodded.

“Understandable. That’s odd though, your regular is really reliable isn’t he? I’ve never seen him miss a day.”

Moniwa sighed.

“Neither have I. I’ll send some of the guys out to his place later this evening just to see what’s up.”

He straightened.

“Enough about that. What are you here for today, Sawamura? We hear you gave the security guards a hard time last week, some of them had mild concussions and the like.”

Daichi dug a list out of his pocket.

“Our new ones are a little over enthusiastic sometimes. We used up a lot during our last run so it’s time we stock up. Here are the numbers we’re hoping to get. You have enough?”

Moniwa snorted.

“Sawamura, this is all we do. We definitely have enough, even for you flashy folk. Did you bring us the usual?”

Daichi nodded to Tanaka.

“That and a bonus. Tanaka mentioned something about your prototypes, so we’re interested in seeing those as well so I threw in some beef. You can send one of yours with Tanaka to inspect. If it’s good, we’ll drive it through one of your back entrances and unload.”

Moniwa waved over Kamasaki.

“Go with him and drive it back.”

The two left. Moniwa turned back to Daichi.

“Here, come with me, I’ll show you some of the new stuff and get someone to start filling your order here. Yasushi will be back with your kid pretty quickly so he can take a look as well. In the mean time, we’ve made some new armours, want to take a look for next time?”

 

* * *

 

Koushi waved goodbye to the team as they locked up the warehouse behind them before pulling on his gloves and swinging his leg over the motorcycle. Looking down at his hands gripping the handlebars, he grinned. After Daichi had taught him how to ride the motorbike (Daichi never got lessons himself but just unfairly, had a sense for these things), the man had gotten him a pair of leather gloves as a gift. Daichi had muttered something about noticing how cold and chapped Suga’s hands got from riding the motorcycle in the cold before turning back to his tinkering, back of his neck and ears red. They were probably some of the nicest things Suga owned and after a couple years of wear-and-tear, they still worked great, Suga thought. The cracked brown material was soft from use now and while Daichi had offered to replace them, now that they finally were able to afford these luxuries, Sugawara had refused. He didn’t know how to explain that he loved the gloves because they were the same shade of Daichi’s eyes, nor did he want to delve into that conversation.

Shivering a little in the cold grey weather, Suga rolled his right shoulder. The damp still bugged it despite it healing quite well. Suga knew that Daichi’s ribs still caused him trouble as well. Suga kicked the stand and made his way back home, waving to some of the people he passed on the way.

Making it home without incident, he parked his ride and walked up to their front door key in hand. Once he got inside, he walked around for a bit, setting up the beginnings of a light dinner and a pot of tea (one luxury that he allowed himself) while going over his list of tasks for the night in his head.

Tomorrow, they would start planning their next heist. There was a cargo ship arriving the following week carrying apples from the eastern orchards and Sugawara was intent on grabbing some of that shipment. While fresh fruit were not as rare or expensive of a commodity as meat here in Miyagi, they were still a treat for most of the population, and by his calculations, if they could make it out with four to five shipping crates, they could sell for an affordable sum and still make enough profit to sustain their operations. To start prepping this next operation, he needed to go over security footage of the dock that the shipment was scheduled to be dropped off at and try to identify the security patterns and other potential concerns. He also needed to look over all routes to and from that area so they could plot out their best escape routes that would scramble any possible pursuers. Holding a mug of tea, he settled in front of his laptop, plugged in his earphones and started the painstaking process of reviewing the past few weeks of footage for that quadrant.

Halfway through a very boring and standard check, a movement on the screen caught his eye as he was leaning down to scribble notes onto a faded notepad. Looking up, he quickly rewinded a few seconds back to look at it again. At the corner of the grainy footage, he saw three men walk down the street, pushing another in front of them. By their stance, he could tell they were plain-clothed police. They all just had a certain type of air as they walked that set them apart from the locals and besides, the man before them was handcuffed, which was unfortunately a common occurrence. However, the direction they were going and the timestamp was unusual. The police hardly patrolled so late at night and their station was in central Miyagi, meaning they should have been walking south. Instead, it looked like they were heading north to the river.

Suga leaned back from the screen for a moment and chewed his lip. He didn’t know why but something about this sighting was disturbing him. He double-checked the timestamp again -2:38AM, well outside of the usual habits of the local police- and rewatched the video one more time.

He switched through to other feeds to track their journey but quickly hit another road block as the feeds that should have shown activity on the street north of the one they were walking on previously was black. He frowned, typing in a few more different variations but the screen remained blank. He wasn’t sure what gave him a bad feeling about that missing footage, but there was something off about it.

As he contemplated calling up Yaku, he heard the front door creak open.

“Daichi!” he turned to greet him. He gasped when he took in his partner’s appearance. Daichi looked a little embarrassed but his clothing was covered with frost and cracking was evident in some of the fabric.

“What on earth?!”

“Ahh, a Datekou test gone a little awry, don’t worry, I’m not hurt, just a little cold. I’m fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading guys!! I'm hopefully going to update the next chapter pretty soon and the tone will get a tad darker with the introduction of another team! Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions <3.


	3. avoid black cats

Daichi was known to be a very level-headed and reliable kind of guy in the community. His team knew him to be responsible and firm, and neighbors knew him to be an all-around good kind of fellow. He was trustworthy, fair and even other gang leaders had a healthy amount of respect for him, though a little easy to rile up and mess with, sometimes.

Suga would agree with all these observations. He’d even add one, which was this:

Daichi was a big baby when he was sick.

Balancing the tray in one hand, he used his other to pull back the comforter covering the giant human lump on their rickety bed and revealed a head of tousled black hair. Putting the food and water on the nightstand, he leaned over to run his hands through the spiky black locks, damp with perspiration.

“Daichi,” he called. “Daichi, I told you that ice would mess with your immune system.”

He got a muffled groan as an answer.

“I’m fine.” The Lump replied croaking. “Leave me to die.”

Suga sighed and shook Daichi’s shoulder.

“Those are very contradictory. Come on you, up, we need to get some fluids into your system.”

Daichi grumbled and groaned but let Suga pull him into a sitting position and held the cup of tea in his hands obediently.

“I don’t like ginger.” He growled after the first cautious sip. Suga had to hold back a giggle. He had often heard people compare Daichi to a disgruntled bear when irked, but it was particularly true in these instances.

“That’s what you get for not bundling up,” he teased back gently. “You nag me all the time about bundling up and staying warm, I don’t see why you can’t do the same for yourself.”

Daichi took a sip and wrinkled his nose.

“That,” he answered, “Is because you are practically waifish. No extra fat to insulate you at all. A stiff wind and I’m afraid you’ll blow away.” Daichi pinched Suga’s side gently earning himself a scandalized huff and a punch to the shoulder for that.

Daichi clutched the shoulder dramatically and let his head fall forward onto Suga’s shoulder with a groan.

“Everyone thinks you are so kind and gentle but you just beat down the ill.”

“And everyone thinks you are strong and unbowing, but you are just a big teddy bear. Who drools when they sleep.” Suga hugged him, running his hands up and down Daichi’s broad back comfortingly. Daichi’s annoyed huff vibrated through the two of them.

They stayed like that for a few moments before Daichi pulled back, ears pinker than before and sat up again to gulped down the tea.

“Alright,” Daichi closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the headboard. “What’s on the schedule today?”

Sugawara snorted.

“Sleep for you. It’s only a planning day, I’ll come home with notes.”

Daichi started stripping off the sheets.

“No, I can’t just _skip_ out, it’s bad form-”

Suga gently pulled the covers up around Daichi.

“What is worse, is if you got everyone else sick as well.  Could you imagine Hinata, or god forbid, Tsukkishima with a cold? I’d have to call up Datekou for their horse tranquilizers to stop those kids.”

Daichi shuddered at the thought, then sighed.

“I hate it when you make sense.”

Suga grinned.

“Don’t you grumble. I have some food ready for you in the fridge, just warm it up in the microwave when you are hungry. I’ve got more boiled water in jars on the counter. Drink this pot of ginger tea and sleep when you can. I’ll leave the laptop at home for you to use if you get bored.”

As he turned to get up, Daichi caught his hand. Suga nearly jumped with surprise at the feeling, looking down at brown eyes glassy from the sickness.

“Koushi. Don’t run yourself ragged,” Daichi said softly. Suga squeezed Daichi’s fingers as an answer before forcing himself to let go.

“You just get some sleep and leave it in my capable hands.” He replied lightly.

* * *

  
  
When he stepped foot into the warehouse, everyone was already there, sitting around the middle around one of the heaters and chatting animatedly.

“Hey!” he greeted as he walked up towards them. Hinata jumped up from the little milk crate he was sitting on.

“Suga-san!” he greeted excitedly. “You missed it! I was like _brawwwwwrgh_ and then Kageyama did this _yeehgh_ and then-”

Asahi leaned over to Suga.

“Hinata shimmied up on of the pipes earlier and nearly gave us all heart attacks.”

Sugawara frowned.

“Freehand?” he asked dubiously, looking at the pipes fixed to the interior of the building, leading up nearly 30 meters up.

“Yep. You can imagine Kageyama’s face when Hinata just slid down and jumped on top of the kid, 5 meters up.”

He shook his head ruefully. Nishinoya jumped onto Asahi’s back at that moment, provoking a little screech from his steed.

“Ah, Suga-san! Where is Daichi?”

Sugawara laughed at the stricken expression on Asahi’s face, caused by Nishinoya’s excited bouncing.

“He’s just a little under the weather, don’t worry about it. We can do prelim planning without him anyways. Today’s just debriefing and initial planning.”

Nishinoya snickered.

“Man, Daichi is a mess when he’s sick. Did you have to hold his hand and make him choke down medicine?”

Sugawara rolled his eyes.

“Is it ever any different?”

Digging a sheaf of papers from his messenger bag, he waved everyone over to the little milk-crate circle around the heater.

“Daichi’s a little busy today, so it’s just us. Let’s show him we can handle things without him, eh?” He winked at the boys assembled around him.

Smiling at the laughs all around, he flipped open his folder.

“There is a new cargo ship, due to stop off at the docks next week. It’s coming from the east, carrying produce- primarily apples.”

Sugawara let the ease of debriefing calm him. This was what he excelled at and he knew it. As much as he wished to be on the scene with his team, he knew his physical limits- but observing and making quick tactical decisions, this was his core.

After the quick summary, he spread out a map and everyone crowded around. Tanaka and Nishinoya tended to take the lead when it came to this. Daichi and Sugawara always thought it was important that the team was heavily involved in the process. Not only did it mean that they would have the ability to think on their feet if anything went wrong during the heist, it also meant that they could make plans according to their own strengths.

Stepping back, he watched the regular heist team talking animatedly. Tsukkishima shook his head at something Nishinoya suggested and pointed to a point on the map, presumably with an alternative suggestion to taking down the guards quickly.

Tsukkishima was an interesting case. He had really shown no particular interest joining up, atypical of most recruits. Still, his calmer nature was a great balance for the rest of the team when it came to moments on the scene. Sugawara had watched him analytically take apart situations quickly and calmly, and his ability to think on his feet, thinking about the whole picture, was something worth nurturing. Additionally, while most of the team prefered firearms, Tsukkishima was excellent at quiet takedowns of guards through hand-to-hand combat. His height and reflexes quickly convinced Daichi and Suga to put him onto the regular rotation for heists and he was usually the first to reach the target cargo to secure the area in person.

Lost in his thoughts about the individual strengths of the team, Sugawara didn’t notice Ennoshita calling for him until he tapped him on the shoulder.

“Huh?” He turned, startled. Ennoshita smiled at him.

“Sorry Suga-san, you didn’t hear me. We have some drop-in visitors.”

Sugawara peered over Ennoshita’s shoulder at the direction he was pointing. A familiar bed-head peeked out by the door.

Ah.

“Kuroo-san, to what do we owe the pleasure?” he called out.

He didn’t bother hiding the grin when he heard the commotion behind him.

“Wha- Kuroo?”

“Nekoma’s here?!”

Kuroo raised his hand in greeting to Sugawara.

“Yo. Where is Sawamura at?”

Sugawara laughed. Kuroo and Daichi had immediately started off a tense rivalry the first time they met back in the early days of Karasuno’s formation. The two groups had stumbled across each other when Karasuno was still only a three-man team doing a preliminary scouting trip and after an awkward standoff between Kuroo and Daichi, Nekoma agreed to help Karasuno connect to surveillance and online sources in return for some perishable goods. It was a good symbiotic relationship: people would always need food and technology always would need to be hacked.

Of course, hacking surveillance feeds was only one small piece of Nekoma’s work. Suga knew that many of the other gangs worked with Nekoma for a variety of things, from corporate secrets to personal info on hits.

“He’s out today. What can I do for you?”

Kuroo batted his hand lazily.

“Ah, not much. Just was in the neighborhood and thought we’d pick up some supplies. These assholes were getting restless behind screens anyways.”

Suga nodded. It had been a long time since the two teams had met up, each tied up with their own businesses.

“That sounds fine to me.”

With permission given, members of both teams leapt forward and grabbed their friends, talking away excitedly. Inuoka and Lev practically threw Hinata into the air while Kageyama and Kenma watched. Tanaka and Yamamoto looked like they were hurting each other with how violently their enthusiastic fistbump routine was.

* * *

 

Turning away to let their teams have their fun, he looked at Kuroo and Yaku. Something, particularly in Yaku’s posture, made him feel nervous. He deliberately kept his voice light but raised his eyebrow questioningly at the two.

“The normal amount?” he asked, inclining his head and showing them to the store area, separated and camouflaged to look like it was filled with empty cardboard boxes. “Kiyoko-san isn’t in today so I’ll pull things off the shelves for you.”

Kuroo ruffled his bedhead awkwardly when they were out of earshot rest of the group.

“We aren’t here just for supplies, I’m sure you’ve figured.” he started. Sugawara nodded. It was highly unusual for so much of Nekoma to leave their comfortable Saitama base of computer screens and wires. They were holed away in the basement floors of one of the abandoned and run-down high-rises in the area, away from regular patrols but with easy access to existing electrical and optic carrier lines. Last time Suga and Daichi went to Nekoma’s base, they were even in the process of restoring one of the forgotten satellite dishes of the building across the street in hopes of using those as well.

Yaku continued.

“There have been some… odd infrastructure issues lately with the police surveillance cameras, especially close to the harbor. You guys hold the most presence there out of all the teams. Seen anything?”

Sugawara suddenly remembered the strange footage and channel he saw yesterday.

“Yes,” he replied thinking, “I was about to call you about something yesterday, Yaku-san, but I got distracted.”

He explained what he saw as he robotic-ally took things off shelves, piling them into Kuroo and Yaku’s arms as he spoke.

“-and it was completely black, not staticky like usual malfunctioning feeds look.”

Yaku was nodding along as he spoke, his frown deepening.

“That’s what we’ve been noticing too.” he murmured. “It’s not system-wide which is the part that tells me there is something else going on outside of regular maintenance.”

Kuroo leaned against a shelf, arms crossed and a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Something is going on around the harbor and the damn cops are hiding it. If they are deliberately shutting them off, we’d be able to hack them and turn them on again but it’s never long enough for us to notice. It’s always in 30 minute to 2 hour spurts late at night.”

Sugawara shuddered. If they were to expect extra presences and anomalies at the docks, it would be dangerous for them to run heists. Yaku read his mind.

“Your Crows should lay low for a while until we figure out what is going on. We haven’t told the team yet. Don’t want to insight panic.”

Sugawara sighed.

“I’ll talk to Daichi about this but I’m sure he’ll want to keep it quiet too. Who else knows?”

Kuroo shrugged.

“I’ll probably drop by and ask Bokuto if anything’s been going on but they usually don’t worry too much about cameras when they jack vehicles and all.”

“Keep us updated.” Suga sighed. ”I’ll let you know if anything happens on our end. Let’s get out there before they start wondering where we are, or set fire to something.”

Yaku laughed in response, almost dropping on of the grain bags that Suga had given him.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. You should have seen how excited they were when Kuroo-san and I said we were coming up north. We weren’t going to bring everyone but they insisted. Even Kenma got that twitchy excited thing I only usually see when he’s hacked something considerably new.”

Kuroo whistled when they got out to the open area again.

“Some of you fat cats, help load up this food, we need to get going in half-an-hour. Can’t leave Nobuyuki to hold down the fort all afternoon all on his lonesome.”

Their groups groaned but all pitched in heartily, packing and tying supplies to the backs of the motorcycles that all of the Nekoma boys favored. Yaku had explained to Suga that they were easy to hide in the rubble around their base and additionally, that Kuroo had always had a secret dream to lead a biker gang.

With everything secured, he turned to Suga with a mischievous grin.

“Sawamura isn’t here but, there is another one I want to say hi to.” He turned and bellowed.

“Oi! Tsukki! How’ve you been?”

The aforementioned blond jumped, startled from the corner he was in with Yamaguchi, the two quietly talking. Yaku sighed.

“He looks like some ratty alleycat stalking a little chick.”

“A ruffled little chick that might claw out his eyes.” Suga replied. The two laughed and relaxed, catching up on each other’s lives, while keeping an eye on the spectacle that was Kuroo harassing Tsukki, both teams egging him on.

Finally, Kuroo pulled on his beaten up leather jacket and rounded up the Nekoma team.

“Catch you next time, Sugawara!” he saluted. “Tell Sawamura I’d better see him next time.”

Suga laughed and waved, hugging Yaku goodbye.

“Hopefully next time we meet, it’ll be more relaxed.”

“Absolutely.”

Sugawara held back a giggle at Kuroo’s knitted fingerless gloves (were those little kitten whiskers in the knit he spied?) as they all peeled away, waving to their friends.

“Well,” he turned around to face the remaining, hands on his hips. “That was an unexpected surprise. We’ll have to see about meeting up with them for a meal sometime.”

Looking down at his watch, he winced.

“It’s going to get dark soon. We can end here for today.”

* * *

 

Kuroo could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he walked into their base, bags of supplies under each arm, to see Kai standing by their wall of screens grimly staring up at them. He passed his load onto Taketora and walked up quietly to stand by his vice-leader.

“What’s got you all tense and worried, Nobu?” he asked, keeping his voice teasing. “Did you miss us all that much?”

Nobuyuki’s expression only lifted lightly.

“We should go step into the tech room to talk.”

Kuroo considered this for a moment, then waved over Kenma.

“Please go out and just double check the coverings for the motorbikes. It’s pitch-black so some of the guys might of been careless, but we wouldn’t want to make it too easy for any of our law enforcement friends. Take Inuoka with you.”

Kenma nodded. With the best natural night-vision in the bunch, he usually was assigned this job.

After Kenma left, he looked back over at Nobuyuki.

“Alright, let’s hear all the gossip while we were out.”

Once they were off in the old boiler room that served as their space for extra equipment, Kuroo stretched his arms over his head.

The trip to Karasuno’s headquarters was a 45 minute trip on a good day and it was already practically nightfall by the time they left, so it had taken them a good 3 hours to navigate back, careful to loop around to lose any trackers.

Nobuyuki sighed.

“Datekou called.”

Kuroo lifted a brow. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up more.

“Oh?” Datekou and Nekoma did not have particularly close business ties. While they required each other’s services occasionally, it was nothing like the close dealings that Datekou had with other groups.

“One of theirs has gone missing. Moniwa-san requested we scrub the footage of the guy’s home the day before he disappeared.”

Kuroo tried to shrug off the sense of unease.

What he neglected to admit to Sugawara earlier, was that the first reason they even noticed those buggy cameras was because rumours were trickling in through the tech community that people were starting to disappear right on the streets. Some dumb punk had made a blog post making up some pretense about a boogeyman stalking the streets of the South side, probably in hopes that it would take wing like the Slenderman legends and that post had caught Lev’s eye (the boy had a strange fascination with creepypastas). Kuroo had shrugged it off due to it’s sheer absurdity but after that entire blog had been unceremoniously and suddenly blacked out a day later, Yaku had started looking into it.

After some background checks, Yaku had confirmed that there was an increase of rumoured unexplained disappearances, but so far, all of them had been people from transient communities and the homeless, which was very difficult to keep a track of anyways.

When they tried to run surveillance checks, they had kept running into the same problem with the cameras which had prompted Yaku to propose a visit to Karasuno.

This was the first time he had heard of someone with a stable life, involved with a powerful gang no less, going the same way as the previous rumoured victims.

While some gangs might have some brutal enemies, Datekou kept their noses closest to the ground and was practically off everyone’s radar. Law enforcement had much bigger fish to fry, like Jouzenji, who had recently done a hit on a very public figure on the North side and was splashed across many a headline. No one in the gang community wanted to start a war with the most reliable arms supplier around. Even Nekoma acquired a lot of their startup equipment and tech thanks to Datekou.

“Are they sure the guy didn’t just skip town?” he asked, knowing how unlikely that possibility was but hoping against all hope.

“No signs of anything like that. Moniwa personally went to go check on him when he didn’t show up to work the storefront and it seems he never even made it home after his previous shift. No witnesses, no signs of struggle.”

Kuroo licked his lips nervously.

“So I’m assuming you checked your tapes?”

“That’s the alarming part.”

“Because this tale so far has been so relaxed,” Kuroo drawled.

“When I checked the tapes for his given timeline and location, there was a that same damn static screen across that entire neighborhood an hour past midnight until dawn.”

“Let me guess. Blackout extends to the harbor?”

Nobuyuki nodded tersely.

Kuroo didn’t even bother to hide the shudder that went down his spine. Something was very, very off here, and he got the sense that they were barely scratching the surface.

Sitting for a moment to think over their options, he then straightened up and made to walk out of the storage room.

“Gather the team together for me in a bit, won’t you? It’s time we talked curfew and assigned partners especially after nightfall. And get Yaku to set up a secure line for me. I need to send out a message to a few of the other heads.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god are we finally getting to some action? Yes. Yes we are.


	4. dazzling green ivy

The door suddenly exploded inwards as Suga and Daichi stood in the kitchen, preparing breakfast, giving them no time to react as armed policemen poured into their small room, barking out words Sugawara could barely understand in his surprise and panic. Daichi pushed Koushi behind his own broad frame but the police grabbed them mercilessly and separated them, pushing Daichi to the ground. At this moment Sugawara found his voice and started screaming, straining against the grips on his arms and straining towards Daichi’s form pinned to the ground.

“No, no, don’t hurt him, don’t!” he pleaded tears running down his face even as he was dragged backwards out the front door, the zipties digging into his wrists. He gasped as he watched one of the men raise his gun over Daichi’s head and managed to twist free, taking a few steps towards them before being grabbed and dragged again, this time, outside. He gasped disoriented as he looked around and saw the rest of his team- his family kneeling in a semi-circle in the dirt outside, all beaten up with a row of policemen behind them, guns trained on their movements. His breath caught as he saw Hinata, Kageyama, Tsukki and Yamaguchi with them.

They only just joined. It’s not their fault, they’re so young, it’s none of their faults.

Asahi looked up, one eye bruised and swollen.

“Suga!” he shouted. “Suga, where’s Dai-”

A gunshot echoed from within the house. Sugawara stared towards the door.

“No. No no _no no, no_.” Sugawara clawed at the hands holding him. “No, Daichi, no!”

“Koushi. Koushi stop. _Koushi_!”

Only Daichi called him that. Sugawara froze for a moment.

“ _Wake up_!”

Sugawara woke up with a jolt, the hands on his biceps suddenly becoming Daichi’s, turning from restraining to comforting. He blinked rapidly at the ceiling as Daichi let go briefly to turn on the lamp. Suga’s focused on breathing, focused on the warmth of Daichi clutching his hand.

“Oh.” he gazed up at the shadowy features of Daichi hovering worriedly above. He gripped Daichi’s arm and turned to bury his face into Daichi’s shoulder. He continued to breathe deeply, letting the soft cotton of Daichi’s sleeveless shirt against his cheek calm down his heartrate. Daichi dropped back down to lay on his side, free arm curling protectively around Suga, stroking soothingly down his back.

“Damn, sorry.” Sugawara finally croaked. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“You okay? Same nightmare?”

Suga nodded slowly. “It’s always the same idea.”

Daichi exhaled softly. “You are stronger than any of us Koushi. We’ll get through this. We always will.”

In that position Sugawara let himself get lulled back into sleep, the both of them dozing lightly. Growing up together meant they were used to sharing tight quarters and with Sugawara’s nightmares, it had just become natural to become physically close as well. Koushi’s nightmares had started up soon after their official debut and Daichi couldn’t blame him. There were popular rumors about the dissolving of the previous gang that was their namesake “Karasuno”, especially around the final disappearance of the one everyone affectionately called the “Little Giant”. There were many rumours, some fantastical, about the entirety of Karasuno having relocated and started up a farming community in the far West, but most, variations of how the government had finally caught on and cracked down due to Karasuno’s infamy and local popularity. One particular man, famous for being a little dramatic, swore he watched the day that the police swept in, rounded up the gang and executed the Little Giant on the spot and Sugawara had grown up listening to that man’s stories. Daichi, Sugawara and Asahi had decided to revive the name under a new symbol and system but sometimes they couldn’t help but worry that somehow the title was bad luck.

The tiny electronic beep from their beaten up flip-phone startled them both into wakefulness. Daichi blinked blearily trying to adjust his vision while throwing out an arm towards their nightstand. After a couple misses, Sugawara rolled over and threw himself over Daichi to grope for the blinking LED-light phone as well.

“Oomph.” Daichi sounded strangled when Suga leaned his weight on Daichi’s abdomen.

“Sorry,” Suga’s voice was muffled when he dropped himself down further.

He flipped the phone-screen up with one hand and squinted at the sudden bright light emanating from the screen.

Daichi winced at the light as well.

“What is it?”

Suga read the short text aloud and Daichi could feel Suga go stiff with tension as he did.

“‘The trash heap needs a little clearing.'"

Daichi frowned sleepily, features illuminated by the screen light. They both recognized that phrase; it was one they had set up with Nekoma back in the early days to signal both danger and a need to exchange information.

“We haven’t had to use those passcodes in a while.” Sugawara mused. “It must be serious for them to be messaging us so late.”

Already, his fingers were flying across the keys to form their reply.

“I’d usually say something about cats being nocturnal but you are right.” Daichi grunted, automatically freeing an arm and stroking down Suga’s back in a soothing manner. “Do you have any idea what it might be about?”

Suga paused his typing.

“There- there was something.” he answered haltingly, his mind whirling as he shook off the last of his drowsiness. Daichi continued his patting without skipping a beat.

“Let them know we can meet and then you can bring me up to speed.”

Sugawara quickly finished up his reply and reread it.

_03:14 [Unknown Sender ˎ₍•ʚ•₎ˏ] Clean-up at Blackbird’s hour? We’ll straighten out the nest here._

_03:15 [Unknown Sender =^.^=] See you there._

Putting down the phone, Suga snuggled back into his warm spot in the bed. Daichi waited in silence for a while just letting Sugawara collect his thoughts. Sugawara sighed and turned to face his partner.

“Daichi?"

“Hmm?”

“Do you remember when I told you about the screen going black on me a few times lately while I’ve been trying to scout?”

Daichi frowned, leaning up on one shoulder to think.

“Yeah. Just a tech glitch wasn’t it?”

“That’s what I thought too.” Koushi shuddered, wiggling closer to Daichi. “But when Nekoma came by last night, Kuroo and Yaku were asking some pretty cagey questions. They didn’t say anything but they did mention that they thought it was a deliberate effort on the part of the authorities and that can’t be good news.”

Daichi laid a hand on the back of Suga’s neck, playing with the soft hairs at the base of his head in thought.

“I’ve never known Kuroo to be an alarmist,” he mused aloud, “But things do seem to be slightly off lately. Did you say anything to the crew?”

Suga shook his head.

“No, I didn’t want to scare anyone unnecessarily, but in hindsight, I should have just asked them all to lay low.”

“Not at all. We can still get word out slowly, there isn’t a lot going on right now anyways, we’ll just meet them at the warehouse tomorrow after we meet Nekoma and decide where to go from there.”

Sugawara tried not to remember his nightmare and shivered.

* * *

 

  
The meeting place was an alley where Nekoma and Karasuno’s territories overlapped, tucked behind an old seedy speakeasy and a pawn shop.

Daichi and Suga walked past the shops, ducking back to the abandoned alley unnoticed. The two were dressed in dull black leather clothing, guns tucked away on their persons, the small alleyway was a little more crowded than usual. Half-masks hung on their belts, shaped with a prominent beaks shaped over the nose and feather imprints stamped into the matte black material.

These masks didn’t see too much daylight, used for official meetings, or actual jobs.

The masks, like the tattoos, were given to each member of the gang, and the tradition started before anyone could really remember. They served as a more prominent way of demonstrating gang affiliation but they all had practical uses as well beyond just concealing identities. Most gangs also paid for extra additions to be added to the masks according to individual need. Daichi knew Datekou's were reinforced to also serve as their welding masks, for example, and the Niiyama Rococo-styled masks had gem inspection microscopes built-in.

As Daichi and Sugawara turned the corner, they instantly noticed unexpected guests, not even needing the white Owl masks hanging off the belts of the two men to identify them.

Bokuto, by all appearances, was attempting to free-hand grapple up the side of the crumbling brick building with the assistance of the rusty and creaking fire escape stairs leading up the side. Akaashi, the second-in-command for Fukurodani, was looking up at his leader, look of abject tolerance firmly set into place on his features.

Bokuto looked down to yell down, letting go and hanging on one arm to wave down at his subordinate.

“Akaashi! Hey Akaashi! Look at how far up I am! This is like the 4th floor!”

“Yes Bokuto-san.” Akaashi replied dutifully, “Do watch the rusting edges. Though I know how to administer a tetanus shot properly, I’d appreciate if you didn’t draw on our medicinal supplies please. We certainly go through enough, stripping vehicles already.”

Sugawara suppressed a laugh, raising a hand in greeting to Akaashi as they drew within speaking distance.

“Hello Akaashi-san! It’s been a while.” He greeted easily. “Last time I saw you, you were chasing down some of your little Owls, trying to scrub off car grease. I hope things have been more peaceful since?”

Akaashi smiled crookedly.

“Hope against hope, Suga-san.”

Daichi stepped up behind him, squinting up against the sunlight at Bokuto far overhead with a wince.

“Man, I didn’t realize we were this late, super sorry for keeping you guys waiting.” He said as he gestured up at Bokuto’s figure.

Akaashi shrugged.

“Not a problem. The Cats are running late and we just arrived.”

At those words, Kuroo appeared, lazily strolling into the alley, Kenma close behind, eyes glued to his own screen.

“Not late. You guys are just too early.”

The arrival of the final two caught the attention of Bokuto from his perched position.

“Ah! Daichi, Suga, when did you guys get here?” he yelled, waving.

“Just get down here you crazy feathery asshole!” Kuroo called up. Looking at Daichi and Suga, he grinned. “No offense to other feathered folk here.”

Bokuto saluted, descending rapidly by sliding down the rusty railings of the stairs. Akaashi’s sigh could have echoed with the depth of his exasperation. Landing lightly on his feet, Bokuto ran his hand through his mussed silvery hair as he walked to join the rest. Even while his stance remained relaxed, his eyes sharpened with focus.

“Alright Alley Cat, what’s got you contacting us in the middle of the night?”

Kuroo glanced over his shoulder at the entrance of the alley but his tone remained flippant.

“Let’s go get comfortable further back into this place and we can talk.”

Collectively, they walked further deeper in the alley until they were against the brick wall of the far side, gently bantering as they walked.

Finally, Kuroo leaned against the crumbling brick, slyly looking up from underneath his lashes.

“Had to leave Yaku back at base to hold down the fort.”

“That bad then?” Daichi raised an eyebrow.

“Well,” Kuroo drawled. “I wouldn’t say bad. What would you count as bad, Sawamura?”

Despite Kuroo’s casual attitude, everyone there could sense the underlying stress in Kuroo’s actions as he kept tracing his finger around the edges of his cat mask on his belt. Finally he spoke.

“Our sources show that people have been disappearing. One of Datekou’s went missing. We think there is a correlation to the video feed blackouts.” He nodded at Sugawara at this.

Silence hung in the air for a breath before Bokuto leaned forward, eyes taking on a dangerous glint.

“Video feed blackouts? That would mean it has to do with…” he let the rest of the sentence hang in the air as everyone finished in their heads. The police. The government. Bokuto leaned back, hand on his chin.

"Damn, I thought they had their hands full handling the aftermath of the Johzenji hit on that crooked business head and the Niiyama museum heist last month."

“How sure are we here?” Akaashi asked neutrally.

"Sure enough to call you in."

Sugawara quietly sucked in a breathe as he thought about the footage he'd watched a few nights prior. Was that what it was?

"Alright. What's our first move?" he asked the group at large. Daichi answered, eyes trained on a spot on the wall behind Kuroo’s head.

"Get your people paired up and then get the word out. If this is what we suspect, we need as many eyes on this as we can."

Akaashi nodded.

“Let’s work out the logistics of whom we’re going to contact. No sense wasting time, let’s cross reference our contacts and divide up.”

Kuroo and Daichi immediately started going for their phones and comparing the lists.

“Should we suspend operations?” Bokuto mused. “It would be hard to convince most of the teams to do so. It’s our livelihoods.”

“No.”

Everyone looked up in surprise at Kenma, who at that point had been seemingly not been paying attention, eyes still glued to the screen of his handheld in front of him and fingers not missing a beat.

“We need to pretend we don’t know anything is wrong. Lure out the mouse, follow it to it’s nest.”

He looked up, golden eyes suddenly piercing and dangerous.

“ _Burn it down_.”

Sugawara felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. This would be Nekoma’s infamous “brain”. Kenma was the type of person that would easily get overshadowed by his much rowdier brethren, always absorbed in his handheld device doing… something. No one outside of the Nekoma gang really knew what he was up to but Sugawara suspected they were twitch-reaction logic games. Despite the boy’s quiet nature, after spending time with Nekoma, it was easy to see that while Kuroo and Yaku held the lead, Taketora served as their primary muscle, everyone deferred to Kenma’s opinions.

Daichi gazed at Kenma, expression unreadable.

“Understood.”

Kenma nodded and went back to the device in his hands.

Bokuto stepped back, arms behind his head, eyes glinting.

“Hunting, huh? We haven’t done that in a while.” His usually carefree grin took on a twisted edge.

Kuroo leveled a look at Sugawara.

“Keep looking Sugawara. You and your crew historically use those sites more than any of us, we’ll be relying on you on this one heavily.”

Sugawara shrugged, smiling brightly.   
  
“Of course. No one better to dig out the little hidden shiny objects.”

“Alright,” Akaashi murmured, head bent over a sheet of paper he’d been scribbling on. “Logistically, the most effective way is pretty simple. Fukurodani and Nekoma, we’ll take charge of warning the Southern quadrants. Datekou can take take a bulk of the outliers, they are better connected than any of us.”

“That leaves the North.”

Sugawara stepped forward easily, peering over Akaashi’s shoulder at the list.

“Oh, we can absolutely do that.” he hummed.

Akaashi quirked up an eyebrow and even Kuroo looked a little surprised. Bokuto squawked.

“Oya, oya, you sure Sugawara-san? The Northern gangs are notorious for being hard to contact and also dickbags. Like huge bags of dicks.”

Suga laughed at Bokuto’s description.

“We’re on friendly terms.”

Kuroo whistled.

“So that’s Karasuno’s Mr. Refreshing, hah?” he drawled. “Charming even the most stuck up of them all.”

He cast a teasing glance at Daichi.

“I have to assume it’s Sugawara since Sawamura is solid but boring as hell.”

Daichi rolled his eyes.

“Who does that leave us?”

“Shiratorizawa.”

“Elusive fuckers,” Kuroo waved his hand carelessly. “They keep to themselves so much after the rise of their current leader- ahh, what was his name?”

Bokuto perked up.

“Ushi-something wasn’t it? Ushiwaka?”

“We’ll come to that when we can.” Daichi cut off before Bokuto and Kuroo could start parroting each other. “I can’t imagine such a iron-fisted leader would allow anything to happen regardless of what he does or does not know.”

“Ohohoho?”

“Ohohoho.”

“Damn it.”

* * *

 

“Damn it.”

Oikawa cursed as he hiked the sheer nylon up one leg.

“Iwa-chaaan,” he whined from his chair. “Why do I have to do this again?”

His partner ignored him while the rest of Aobajousai chimed in.

“Fair is fair, Oikawa-san,” Hanamaki reminded him, absently flipping through a magazine,”We voted, you lost.” Looking over the pages, the man grinned. “Besides, after all your talk about your _excellent physique that is well-proportioned and slender and nothing like Iwa-chan’s barbaric manly muscles_ , it’s clear that you’ll do the best at this job.”

Matsukawa nodded in agreement.

“We just wanted to give you a chance to show off those legs you are so proud of, Oikawa-san.” he said perfectly blank and almost sincerely, making Oikawa want to throw his hairbrush at him.

“And you already shave your legs anyways so it’s even easier!” Yahaba chimed in enthusiastically.

Oikawa threw himself dramatically over his desk. He’d done many things for Seijou during all their variety of cons but this was by far the most humiliating, he thought to himself piteously.

Their latest scheme had them back in their casino -one they had managed to purchase and set up as a perfect honeytrap for potential filthy rich “clients”- and worming themselves into the graces (and bank account) of a wealthy man who newly got his hands on another large sum of money. It would be easy. They’d done it a million times before.

“Bump” into the target.

Charm the target.

Rob the target.

Laugh at the target. (This was mostly Oikawa’s favorite step which he insisted was necessary.)

In this particular case, they needed to gain the trust and access to the Wasedas. Mr. Waseda’s main social contacts were all part of the married circle of technology barons and after observation, they’d quickly come to the conclusion that the easiest way to get close to Mr. Waseda and Mrs. Waseda was to enter into that circle as a young married couple themselves.

Which meant that they’d have to produce a couple.

A young straight couple.

As soon as they had come to that conclusion, all the Aobajousai boys looked at Oikawa and Oikawa could only bemoan his fate.

“Come on, get the rest of your makeup on.” Iwazumi’s voice startled Oikawa out of his self-pitying daze. “Don’t forget to cover your tattoo.”

“As if Iwa-chan,” Oikawa snapped, “If I’m going to do this, I’d do this correctly.” Reaching over and grabbing a large clunky bangle, he slid it over his wrist to easily cover the green ivy encircling his wrist.

He stood up, wobbling a little in his heels (how Kunimi managed to procure a set of 6-inch black Louboutins in his size was beyond him) and stepped back to examine himself in the mirror. He was tall for a woman, especially in those shoes but the soft curves of the dress Kindachi had sewn did a good job to give the illusion of curves. With his makeup in place, Oikawa grudgingly had to admit that he made a very pretty woman.

“You look nice.” Iwazumi’s crooked smile took Oikawa off-guard.

Well.

“Since none of you have been blessed with looks, I suppose I’ll have to shoulder the weight for us, like the good captain I am.” Oikawa declared haughtily, tossing his extensions over his shoulder in a practiced movement. “Beauty is a burden.”

He raised a newly-plucked eyebrow at Iwazumi’s outfit. He looked good in a suit. Iwazumi was one of those people who looked comfortable in any environment which made him excellent on their jobs. His quiet confidence made people rarely question him no matter where they went.

“This might be a problem.” Oikawa mused.

“Hmm?”

“Your bride is so devastatingly lovely, it might be unbelievable with your gorilla face.” Oikawa batted his lashes. Iwazumi didn’t even blink before smacking Oikawa with the newspaper in his hand.

Oikawa yelped.

“I’m just thinking about our cover, you brute! You wife abuser!”

“Stop flirting you two,” Yahaba sighed, taking Oikawa by the arm to touch up his makeup.

The rest of the team double-checked their equipment for the mission ahead. Kindachi fiddled awkwardly with his bowtie, looking uncomfortable in his dealers uniform while Kunimi started boredly at the clock.

The sound of the apartment buzzer startled the group.

“Were we expecting anyone?” Kindachi looked strained, reaching for his pistols.

Oikawa shrugged easily, hands fluttering in a calming fashion.

“Alright darlings, we’ll take care of this. Hide away the gear, I’ll handle this.”

Touching the button on the speaker panel, he affected his best imitation of a female contralto.

“Shizuka Residence! Who is this?”

There was a pause on the other end.

“Uhh. I don’t suppose you’ve lost a pet blackbird?”

Oikawa frowned, looking back at Iwazumi who looked just as confused.

“No, but we’ve had one poking through our plant.” He slowly reciting back the second half of their passcode with Karasuno.

“We can take care of that.”

Oikawa pressed the button that unlocked the latch on the main foyer down below.

“What are the Crows doing here?” he asked his teammates as they relaxed, holstering their weapons again.

“Whatever it is, it’s not a social call.”

“I guess we’ll find out quickly enough.”

“Are you going to greet them looking like that?”  
  
Before Oikawa could react, a knock sounded at the door. Iwazumi peered through the peephole.

“That’s Daichi all right.”

“Wait-”

Iwazumi opened the door and Daichi greeted Iwazumi warmly. “Hi Iwazumi-san,” he said as they clasped hands. “Sorry to drop in without warning but we had some urgent news for you and Oikawa-san…?” He trailed off  hesitantly as he finally noticed Oikawa sitting at the table trying to look casual.

Sugawara tried to peer over Daichi’s shoulder, worriedly.

“Is everything okay?”

Daichi moved aside to let in his companions, eyes flicking to Iwazumi continuously. Iwazumi only sighed and shrugged.

Sugawara bounced in, barely faltering at Oikawa’s appearance.

“Tooru, you look especially lovely!” he grinned. “Here, let me introduce you to two of our new nestlings, Hinata and-”

“Kageyama?” Kindachi shouted.

“Oikawa-san?!” Kageyama wheezed like someone had given him a quick jab to the solar plexus.

Oikawa yelped, curling to cover himself.

“Suga-chan,” he said icy and sweetly, “I see. You’ve come to humiliate me and _attempt to marr my flawless reputation, well let me tell you_ -”

“You two know each other?” Daichi looked like he was hoping for a hole to open up beneath him.

Iwazumi stepped in, throwing a blanket over Oikawa.

Sugawara looked mildly between Oikawa who was angrily pouting on his chair and Kageyama who looked like he had been turned into stone.

“Alright, who feels like explaining?’ 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to take on a serious tone at this point but I was also super attached to the idea of Oikawa in drag and Kageyama breaking.... I'm terrible.

**Author's Note:**

> Drop me a line here or at pyrahus.tumblr because I'd love to hear your feedback as I build this universe slowly.


End file.
